Tuesday Third Week in Lent – Pay It Forward

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Frustration coupled with powerlessness is mean combination. It saps my energy and pushes that elusive hope thing I try and grasp, father and farther away from me. During those times when it seems as if the cosmos is against me I am often looking for a quick way out, a safe harbor where I can come in out of the cold and wet and warm myself by the welcoming hearth waiting for the feeling to pass. If it persists for any length of time, the only way toward comfort and a rebuilt sense of self is to do…something, something for someone else. It is an act I can do. I can feel power returning and channeled into something good. I don’t know why this works but it does. The wallowing in self-pity glues me to one place. I can’t, or won’t do anything. I must first kick myself in the butt to start the gummed up engine. Getting up, getting out and doing a good thing for another, maybe even an anonymous other seems to do the trick. I can feel whole and connected again. It’s worth a try.

41 And now we put our whole heart into following you, into fearing you and seeking your face once more.

42 Do not abandon us to shame but treat us in accordance with your gentleness, in accordance with the greatness of your mercy.(Daniel 3:41-42)

The one thing I can give away and never, ever get back is my time. I can give it freely not expecting anything in return. In a way, it is a true gift I can give someone else. Crankiness seems to diminish. Although some of my time can be limited by commitments, I do have that valuable free time I can give away. And what good I get from others I can also give away in a spirit of connectedness with the other. It’s like love. Receive love, give love. That’s how it works.

32 Then the master sent for the man and said to him, “You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me.

33 Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?”(Matt 18:32-33)

A little song, a little dance, a little coffee down your pants...
40 years in the high school classroom and now on my own. A chance to think about stuff and how it affects everyone, not just me. Now residing in Oregon volunteering for a refugee organization.